Group president & CEO of Maybank, Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said the group will aggressively seek out selective growth opportunities despite the overall cautious stance that is being seen across markets today especially with the prevailing concerns over the Covid-19 virus outbreak and other geo-political issues.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd
posted a record net profit of RM8.20bil in the financial year ended Dec 31,2019 (FY19), lifted a strong performance in the fourth quarter, compared with RM8.11bil in FY18.
Maybank, Southeast Asia’s fourth largest bank by assets, announced on Thursday it also achieved a record profit before tax (PBT) of RM11bil for FY19, up from the RM10.90bil a year earlier.
“The results were boosted by robust performances of its community financial services, Islamic banking and insurance & takaful segments, as well as a particularly strong fourth-quarter (4QFY19) which saw the group record its highest ever PBT of RM3.26bil, a 5.4% increase from a year earlier. This came on the back of a 4.6% improvement in net operating income to RM24.7bil, ” it said.
Its board of directors proposed a final single-tier cash dividend of 39 sen per share, which together with the interim dividend of 25 sen per share, takes the full-year all-cash dividend to 64 sen per share.
Maybank said its FY19 revenue rose by 11.6% to RM52.84bil from RM47.32bil in FY18.
The group achieved a record net operating income of RM24.74bil for FY19 on the back of a 10.7% rise in net fee based income and a 2.2% improvement in fund based income.
“The increase came as a result of higher contributions from all business sectors led by its group Insurance & Takaful business, ” it said.
Group community financial services (GCFS) registered a double-digit PBT growth of 16.5% to RM6.49bil from RM5.57bil a year ago.
This was driven by solid growth in fee based income of 5.8%, arising from wealth management-related fees, particularly from bancassurance and investment fees.
Loans expanded by 3.8% supported by resilient loans growth in the consumer and retail SME segment of 4.8% and 8.7% respectively. Current account/savings account recorded a steady growth of 5% underpinned by continued emphasis on growing low-cost funds.
Group global banking recorded a 4.4% increase in net operating income to RM9.75bil mainly contributed by Malaysia (7.6% YoY), Singapore (2.2% YoY) and Greater China (6.8% YoY).
The increase was on the back of a 13% rise in net fee based income to RM4.21 billion from robust growth in group corporate banking and global markets, particularly from treasury operations.
Group asset management also saw its net fee-based income nearly doubled to RM163mil, underpinned by strong performance of its non-money market funds assets under management which grew 50.7%.
Maybank group’s Islamic banking business recorded another sterling year, with profit before tax rising a 21.7% to RM3.69bilcompared with RM3.03bil a year earlier. Financing and advances rose 8.7% while deposits and investment accounts saw a 6.1% increase.
Etiqa insurance and Takaful registered 19.5% rise in net operating income to RM1.92bil for FY19. PBT rose 14.5% to RM945.3mi enabling it to maintain top position in the general insurance and Takaful segment with a 13.7% market share and fourth in the life/family (new business) segment with a 10.8% market share.
Total net adjusted premiums rose 13.8% lifted by a 21.1% in total general premium and an 8.6% improvement in total life insurance/family premium
4Q financial performance
In the fourth quarter, its net profit increased by nearly 5.3% to RM2.45bil from RM2.32bil. Earnings per share were 21.79 sen compared with 21.05 sen.
When compared with 3Q, both PBT and net profit for 4QFY19 also came in significantly higher by 23.2% and 22.5% respectively.
“This translates into a full year dividend payout ratio of 87.8%, amounting to RM7.19bil, ” it said.
Maybank chairman, Datuk Mohaiyani Shamsudin said that despite the challenging economic environment during 2019, the Group’s steady performance reflected its underlying strength and resilience.
“We believe our ability to create sustainable value is based on the strong foundation that has been laid since Maybank commenced its operations 60 years ago. While we are hopeful for a better year ahead, clouds of uncertainty continue to hover, which is expected to impact global economic outlook in the near term. Nevertheless, we will depend on our ability to innovate, drive service excellence and remain steadfast in our mission of humanising financial services to sustain our position in the coming year.”
Group president & CEO of Maybank, Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said the group will aggressively seek out selective growth opportunities despite the overall cautious stance that is being seen across markets today especially with the prevailing concerns over the Covid-19 virus outbreak and other geo-political issues.
“We have planned an exciting year ahead for Maybank, given that it is our 60th anniversary in 2020, particularly with a number of market-leading digital offerings.
“We will continue to focus on our digital agenda to help deliver greater efficiency and seek additional revenue streams for the future, while maintaining our emphasis on stringent risk and cost management to cushion the Group from the uncertainties ahead. At the same time, we will closely monitor the current situation and ensure that our business continuity initiatives are able to mitigate the impact to our business.”
